Two Organizations Bettering Girls’ Education in Grenada

In Grenada, education does not differ much between boys and girls. The gender parity index (GPI) was only 0.98 in 2015, which means that there was only a slightly larger number of boys, compared to girls, enrolled in primary and secondary education in Grenada. However, because violence against women and girls is a big issue in Grenada, girls are often deprived of the education they deserve and need in order to survive.

There are several organizations and individuals who are working to better girls’ education in Grenada. These organizations assist girls through helping to implement effective programming for their education, as well as giving them resources to use whenever needed.

The Girl Guides Association of Grenada

Girl guiding was introduced to Grenada in 1925 when the first Guide company was established at the Church of England High School. Guiding is now very active in Grenada, mostly through schools, with a few through churches and communities. In 2017, there were more than two thousand girl guides helping young Grenadian girls recognize their full potential.

Kisha Miller has been a member of this organization and a girl guide for the past 20 years. She is now a Unit Leader and an Assistant District Commissioner at Boca secondary school in Grenada. Miller believes that education can be used to change how women are treated in her country, especially in terms of gender-based violence.

Miller also believes that non-formal education is important for girls. She is excited to use the Voices Against Violence curriculum in her country, which will provide her with the tools to start important conversations about the main causes of violence against women and girls with the group of 35 girls she teaches, as well as with all the girls within the Girl Guides Association of Grenada.

Room to Read Accelerator

This organization was established to spread their knowledge of girls’ education to a wider audience in order to maximize their impact around the world. The focus of this offshoot of Room to Read is to offer technical assistance and to share resources and expertise by providing training materials, workshops, periodic support and monitoring. These projects typically last two to three years and will provide girls with all the support and necessities they need to progress through school.

In 2015, Room to Read Accelerator started a three-year long partnership with Grenada. This partnership is through Grenada’s Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development and Grenada Schools, Inc. Their goal is to design a wide-reaching, cost-effective and sustainable program by 2018 that forms good reading habits and skills at all 56 of Grenada’s government primary schools. This program will benefit 11,000 students throughout this Caribbean country.

Organizations, like the Girl Guides Association of Grenada and Room to Read Accelerator, provide girls with the knowledge and tools to be able to progress successfully through school, as well as have what they need to succeed in life. Girls’ education in Grenada has been enormously improved by these establishments because of the large number of girl guides that are in Grenada and the large impact that the Room to Read Accelerator program has had on Grenadian students.

– Megan Maxwell
Photo: Flickr

Top 10 Facts about Poverty in Bangladesh

The small South Asian nation of Bangladesh has undergone economic development and extremely rapid population growth. Despite economic growth in the country, Bangladesh struggles with overwhelming poverty. In order to gain a better understanding of poverty and how it’s changing in the country, below are the top 10 facts about poverty in Bangladesh.

List of Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Bangladesh

1. Bangladesh’s economy has grown rapidly since developing the industry and service sectors of the economy. This led to increased job opportunities and standard of living. In 1980, Bangladesh had a GDP of $18.14 billion. As of 2016, the country’s economy has risen to a staggering estimated $261.4 billion, ranking as the 43^rd highest in the world.
2. Although Bangladesh’s GDP has always been relatively high due to agriculture, GDP growth in the country has increased exponentially in recent years. This GDP development was catalyzed in the early 1990s, with approximately 5.76 percent average GDP growth. As of 2017, Bangladesh has continued to maintain its growth at 7.3 percent.
3. Industry and services form a large part of Bangladesh’s economy, with specialized jobs and manufacturing continuing to increase. The service industry accounts for a majority of the GDP in Bangladesh at an estimated 56.5 percent, while industry and agriculture contributions compose 29.2 percent and 14.2 percent of the GDP respectively. Although the service industry contributes the most to Bangladesh’s economy, 63.2 percent of the country’s 163 million people work in industry and agriculture.
4. The unemployment rate in Bangladesh is low, with an estimated 4 percent unemployment rate. While economic opportunity has been improved for many Bangladeshis, this number is somewhat inaccurate due to underemployment rates. An estimated 40 percent of laborers are underemployed and work only a few hours a week with very low wages.
5. Poverty rates in Bangladesh have also steadily dropped as the country’s economy improves. In 2010, 31.5 percent of the population was deemed to live below the line of poverty, which is defined as living on $1.90 a day. This number dropped to 24.3 percent by 2016.

6. In addition to decreasing poverty rates in Bangladesh, the number of those in extreme poverty, living on just $1.90 purchasing power parity a day has also dropped significantly. The rate of employed workers living in extreme poverty was at 73.5 percent in 2010 and has dropped drastically to 14.8 percent in 2016. Poverty and hunger, however, remain serious issues in Bangladesh. According to 2014-2016 estimates from Asian Development Bank, an estimated 15.1 percent of the population suffers from undernourishment.
7. Life expectancy in Bangladesh has risen drastically, catalyzed by rapid infrastructural and economic expansion. In 1960, the average lifetime of Bangladeshis was approximately 46 years and has more than increased to 72.5 years by 2016.
8. School enrollment in Bangladesh has increased as development began to increase. In 1980, only 20.5 percent of primary school students completed their full studies, while this number has increased to 66.2 percent by 2016. This increase in academic persistence is likely attributed to more opportunity for skilled laborers and decreased levels in poverty.
9. Despite increased primary school enrollment in Bangladesh, the adult literacy rate in the country is relatively low at 72.76 percent. In young adults aged 15-24, however, the literacy rate is much higher at 92.24 percent, and the female literacy rates are relatively higher at 93.54 percent than males at 90.91 percent.
10. In the capital city of Dhaka, issues of population density have arisen, as the city’s population is over 18 million people (in the Greater Dhaka area), nearly an eleventh of the country’s population. This population density is one of the highest in the world.

These top 10 facts about poverty in Bangladesh showcase an improved economy that offers more opportunities for its many citizens. A drastic increase in the service and skilled industries along with manufacturing and agricultural growth, has allowed the country to improve its standard of living.

Although the economy has rapidly developed, poverty for many in Bangladesh still persists. With more development and emphasis on education and diversified economy, poverty will continue to decrease in Bangladesh.

– Matthew Cline
Photo: Flickr

Top 10 Facts about Hunger in Venezuela

Venezuela’s current economic recession has far more reaching consequences for the Venezuelan people than anticipated. At the beginning of 2010, inflation began to rise by over a thousand percent and the economy shrunk, resulting in low oil prices in 2015 and in food and oil shortages today. Perhaps the most devastating consequence is that the price of basic necessities skyrocketed, and hunger in Venezuela increased. Below are the facts about hunger in Venezuela.

1. Food shortages are the country’s biggest problem. Across the country, poor and middle-class Venezuelans are unable to afford food and often must wait in long lines known as “colas” to find basic food like flour and rice. The government subsidizing of food in the country is limited, but the only affordable option.
2. Malnutrition has increased. In the poorest segments of the population, especially in slums and areas of Caracas, malnutrition has increased greatly, as noted by many health workers. Often, families cannot afford two or three meals a day and those meals consist of just bread or banana.
3. Smugglers provide food for the poorest. Despite the risk, the black market for food has exploded in the recent years of the crisis. Smugglers bring food from outside the country, and their goods are often the only ones that the poor can afford. Often, when mothers cannot feed newborns due to their own malnutrition, they procure formula from smugglers.
4. Pets are also starving as a result. Since families cannot afford to feed themselves, many dogs and other pets have been left out to starve on the streets. Hunger in Venezuela has led these animals to search for scraps but their presence can pose a danger to public health.
5. Venezuela has declined aid from the U.S. and the Amnesty International. Despite offers, the current Government of Venezuela under President Maduro has refused aid. Private charities have been allowed to help, but Maduro claims that socialism within the country will protect the citizens from starvation in the end.
6. Maduro blames outside forces and pressures for the crisis. Maduro, who has been re-elected in May 2018, says the crisis is a problem from outside, not from Venezuela’s own government. His position has been greatly weakened by the hunger crisis in the country. As prices rise, desertion rises in the army and paramilitary groups have grown.
7. Media coverage of the crisis has been critiqued as inaccurate. According to a 2016 report, in the course of the crisis, 93 percent of Venezuelans thought they did not have enough money to purchase food and had lost 19 pounds on average. But in the reports from the country were also the statistic numbers of 67.5 percent of Venezuelans that still ate three meals a day and only 25 percent of people felt their nutrition was inefficient. The conflict between these figures could imply that the crisis is not as terrible as reported, but the more positive statistics are rarely discussed in English speaking news reports, which rely more on anecdotal evidence of hunger in Venezuela.
8. Venezuelan employers are trying to help workers. Since many employees come to work hungry, they cannot perform their best, so at some farms, farmers began providing meals for their workers while they are at work, in an effort to keep up productivity and prevent losing more employees to malnutrition. Since operating farms is more expensive now, the farmers have elected to pay their employees not with money, but with food, which is much more valuable for many families.
9. Venezuelans in the U.S. are shipping food to relatives. Despite the grim facts, many relatives are determined to help their families combat hunger in Venezuela. In particular, communities in Miami, a common home for Venezuelan immigrants, have begun collecting food like rice, beans, and sugar. The shipping prices are often incredibly expensive, but mobilization has been made easier by social media efforts.
10. Many charities send food to private organizations on the ground in Venezuela. Donations go to health institutions not affiliated with the Venezuelan government, as most of them do not trust the government. An effort is being made especially to help the most vulnerable, like native communities, nursing homes and special needs children’s organizations.

Perhaps the best news is that, despite the problems within Venezuela, the estimates of hunger in Venezuela are better than in other countries in the region. The percentage of Venezuelans below the poverty line is lower than in neighboring countries like Bolivia. With the mobilization of charities across the globe, the situation has improved for some people in Venezuela.

– Grace Gay
Photo: Flickr

Is it Possible to Eradicate HIV in Malaysia?

In Malaysia, 31.6 million people live below the national poverty line, meaning they live on less than $1.90 a day. In 2014, World Bank reported that 0.6 percent of the population lived below the national poverty line.

While this statistic may seem optimistic, Malaysia still has big problems in trying to reduce HIV for the country’s poorest. Malaysia is ranked seventh highest in the prevalence of HIV in the adult population amongst all Asian countries. 

Current Situation

The Malaysia AIDS Council reported in 2016 that there were 3,397 new cases of the HIV infection. This number contributed to the overall population of people living with HIV in Malaysia, which is reportedly 93,089 people. Additionally, there were 911 AIDS-related deaths that same year. 

After failing to meet their Millennium Development Goal in reducing HIV/AIDS amongst the population, the government responded by introducing a variety of harm reduction programs. These programs predominately aim to reduce the amount of drug injection users in the country, since they are particularly vulnerable to HIV contraction.

Reduction Programs

World Bank reports that HIV harm reduction programs are the “most cost-effective” programs in terms of future savings. The projection of long-term benefits from 2006 to 2050 indicated savings of around $22 million. 

These types of programs have significantly reduced the number of new HIV cases amongst drug injection users. World Bank reports that in 2005 there were around 4,000 new cases of HIV within the Malaysian population. In 2017, the statistic dropped to merely 115 new cases. The prevalence of HIV in Malaysia amongst drug injection users reduced between 2009 and 2017, from 22 percent to 13.4 percent.

The Needle and Syringe Exchange Programme

Created in 2006, The Needle and Syringe Exchange Programme (NSEP) was introduced by the Ministry of Health and the Malaysian AIDS Council. It was a community-based health care service, primarily for people who inject drugs. As of 2012, they reached more than 24,000 registered people.

The activities of the NSEP in Malaysia include exchanging used needles for sterile ones, disposing of needles in a safe manner, educating, providing rehabilitation and encouraging safer sex practices through condom distribution. The service also provides Drop-In Centers that allow patients to receive counseling, light treatment, meals and a place to rest.

Patients receiving aid from NSEP are typically aged from 25 to 50. People under 18 cannot visit the Drop-In centers and are referred to other services. There are currently 17 Outreach Sites associated with the program in all states within Malaysia- excluding Sabah and Sarawak.

Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT)

Methadone Maintenance Therapy is a form of drug replacement therapy. It functions by incrementally decreasing the amount of the drug injected into the user, slowly weaning them off the substance. The amounts are so low that users do not feel high when using it, and the process helps reduce the desire to inject altogether. This type of therapy reduces drug-related crimes and allows users to recover and return to work.

It became apparent after implementation of harm reduction therapy that many drug injection users were fishermen from the city ports on the east coast peninsula of Malaysia.

Successes

In 2011, the collective programs have reached approximately 35,000 injecting drug users. The latest National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS hoped to expand its reach to 136,000 drug users by 2015, which would equate to about 80 percent of the injecting drug user population in Malaysia.

Although not entirely fulfilled, the amount of the drug user population that began receiving Opiate Substitution Therapy, similar to Methadone Maintenance Therapy, was 50.4 percent by 2015. This was based on an estimate of the overall number of drug injection users in the country, which was 170,000 people.

The numbers show a drastic drop from the pandemic’s original scope. In 2002, there were 6,978 new cases of HIV, while in 2016 there were only 3,397 reported. This is a 60 percent drop in new cases of HIV in Malaysia. Out of all the new cases, 2,984 were sexually transmitted, while 377 were transmitted via drug use, which proves the success of implemented programs.

In 2015, the Global AIDS Response Report showed that there were almost 900 facilities throughout the country, both governmental and private, aimed at rehabilitation and therapy for HIV patients. This is a tremendous increase from the previous number in 2006, that was less than 100 facilities.

The projection of HIV cases in Malaysia shows a steady decline from its original peak in 2002. There are clear advancements in eradicating the disease amongst the population. More work needs to be done, yet the progress thus far is very promising.

– Taylor Jennings

Photo: Flickr

Top 10 Facts About Living Conditions in Italy

Italy, one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world, has been ranked relatively low in US News’ 2018 Best Countries report. Italy placed 15th in a list of 80 countries following the Nordic countries, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. This came as a shock to many non-Italians, as Italy is often idealized and tourism often highlights the best of the country, not its realities. To understand this ranking, here are 10 facts about living conditions in Italy:

10 Facts About Living Conditions in Italy

1. Housing
   Housing in Italy, particularly in the northern and center cities, is very expensive. Cities like Milan and Rome are some of the most expensive cities, not just in Italy, but in the world: Milan ranks 50^th and Rome 58^th on the list of most expensive cities in the world. Despite the region—north, center, or south—the cost of housing greatly increased from 21 percent in 2005 to 24 percent in 2014 and has stayed above this level since. This increase was actually noted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as one of the strongest rises in the OECD.
2. Income
   General income in Italy is relatively low and has been turbulent since 2005. Moreover, between 2010 and 2014, the average household net wealth fell by 18 percent. Though there were signs of real recovery in 2015, household net-adjusted disposable income fell again in 2016 and was reportedly 10 percent lower than in 2005. This massive decline has also been noted to be one of the largest falls in the OECD.
3. Poverty
   There is a massive gap between the wealthy and the poor in Italy, both geographically and financially. Geographically, much of the wealthy live in the north of Italy, while many of the poorer Italians live in the south. Moreover, as the OECD has noted, Italian income is distributed the most unevenly across Italian households than any other country. The OECD states that this is due to the fact that the average income of those in the top quintile is almost six times higher than those in the bottom quintile. However, the poverty level in Italy is growing. 14 percent of households across the country were labeled as income poor in 2016.
4. Gender Equality
   The gender inequality in Italy is one of the biggest reasons behind poor life quality ratings. It was found that in Italy, women are 15 percent more likely to be unemployed and, even when employed, they are 75 percent more likely to be employed in low-paying jobs. As the OECD has noted, the gender gap in Italy is one of the largest compared to other countries under inspection by the OECD.
5. Health
   Italy’s healthcare system, the Italian National Health Service (SSN), is one of the country’s redeeming facets. The SSN is a universal, egalitarian public system guaranteeing assistance to all citizens. However, its one downfall is that the wait time for examination is often lengthy; it can reach a couple months, even with an urgent case. Nevertheless, the overall health of Italy has increased by 7.5 points since 2005, which places the country just below the OECD average in health.
6. Environmental Quality
   Although Italy is known for its beautiful scenery and landscapes, overall air pollution increased by 3 percent between 2005 and 2013 and has been rising since. Much of this pollution is due to poor sanitization; a vicious cycle has been created where poor sanitation creates pollution and pollution generates poor sanitation. Moreover, the OECD has received many complaints in the last few years about decreasing water quality in Italy.
7. Civic Engagement
   There is an overall unrest with Italian civics. This is more substantial in the younger generations, but Italian civics has nevertheless seen a general decrease in participation. Voter turnout, like many other countries in the OECD, has decreased in Italy. The last known statistic is that 75 percent of Italy’s population voted in the 2013 general elections, which was significantly less than the 84 percent recorded in 2006. Moreover, a staggering 89 percent of Italians believe that there is widespread corruption across their government, which is much higher than the OECD’s average of 59 percent who believe this. Finally, perhaps as a result of the increasing belief in widespread corruption, only 38 percent of Italians say that they have confidence in the government.
8. Education
   Although OECD’s recent data in Italy’s upper education system is unassessable, there are a few positives to highlight. Between 2014 and 2016, the rate of people in upper education increased by just under one percent and has been slightly increasing since. Additionally, the gender gap in education outcomes in Italy has decreased and now seems to favor women.
9. Employment
   Italy’s employment rate has not improved substantially since 2005. The unemployment rate, currently at 12 percent, is currently reported to be three times higher for younger generations as opposed to the current middle-aged generation. The unemployment rate is the third highest in the entirety of the OECD.
10. Life Satisfaction
    In the past decade, the Italian population’s life satisfaction has fallen from 6.7 to an average of 5.9 on a scale out of 10. This is significantly lower than the OECD’s average and causes concern as it continues to decrease.

These facts about living conditions in Italy highlight that there is much room for improvement. Although much of the country sees a high amount of tourism, it isn’t enough to generate a steady economy or to close the large gap between the poor and wealthy. There is still hope for Italy, but a substantial amount of work remains to be done.

– Isabella Agostini
Photo: Flickr